Australia’s Immunisation RegistersThis update provides information on the work being undertaken to expand the scope of Australia’s two existing immunisation registers; the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register and the National Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccination Program Register, to improve vaccination coverage rates across the entire Australian community.

What changes are being made to the registers?

From 1 January 2016, the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register (ACIR) will broaden to capture immunisation information for young individuals under the age of 20 years, enabling
implementation of the Australian Government’s No Jab, No Pay measure. The ACIR currently records vaccinations given to children aged less than seven years.

From September 2016, the ACIR will expand further to become the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR) to capture all vaccines administered throughout a person’s life (birth to death), given through General Practice and community clinics. This will include all vaccines funded under the National Immunisation Program, as well as private vaccines given through general practice.

This whole of life register will be ready to support the zoster virus vaccine being available on the National Immunisation Program (NIP) for 70 year olds (including a catch up programme for 71-79 year olds), which is planned for November 2016. Other vaccines funded for adults under the NIP, which include seasonal influenza vaccine and pneumococcal vaccine, will also be captured by the AIR.

From the 2017 school year, the HPV Register will be expanded to become the Australian School Vaccination Register (ASVR), which will capture all adolescent vaccinations given through school programmes. Vaccines to be recorded include varicella (chickenpox), the diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (whooping cough) booster, and the HPV vaccine. This will provide tools such as recall and reminder systems to improve adolescent vaccination rates.

What are the benefits of these changes?

Expansion of the registers will broaden and improve immunisation data capture. This will lay the foundations for future work to move towards one integrated system, that captures and reports on all vaccines given in Australia from birth to death, providing one ‘front door’ for consumers and vaccination providers.

This is an important step to improve immunisation rates overall, by better understanding the current coverage of vaccines. At present, the coverage of vaccines given to adults is not well understood as there are no comprehensive national data collected for these vaccines.

Vaccination providers will have secure access to a range of due and overdue reports, which will allow them to monitor vaccine uptake in both young children and older Australians. This will help to identify areas of low coverage within Australia and enable targeted effort and information to boost immunisation rates in these areas.

Individuals will have access to a record of all vaccines recorded in the AIR and ASVR.

Information on the No Jab, No Pay measure and register expansions will be updated on the Immunise Australia website at www.immunise.health.gov.au

The information in the above were collected from the internet,either from government websites or from reasonably reliable health information sources.They are for general information only and should not replace the need of seeking medical care during illnesses.